Threshold: Volition
Session 1: What the Hell? On a planet not called Threshold, two adventurers met – a deep gnome barbarian known only as "Cloak", and a tiefling warlock named Kairon. A being known as The Great Old One (who reveals himself only in mysteriously ambiguous encounters) directed them to the small town of Red Larch. There they fought off bandits, bullywug and even a necromancer over a period of time, but received no further direction from the One who sent them there. One day an earthquake happened, and the two strange companions rushed to the sound of screaming on the outskirts of town. They found a woman fleeing from a fresh cave opening, where a cloud of small fey creatures was flying out. After a frustrating battle with the creatures, the two exhausted men examined the cave opening through the eyes of Kairon's spirit-linked owl. Inside was a large arched circle standing on it's end and an alien, gravity-defying pool of water inside of it, perpendicular to the earth. The pool would flicker in and out, as if whatever energy source powering it was strained. As they approached to inspect closer, three peasant men (you could classify as idiots) rushed out of the portal into the opening, charging as if for battle. The three – clearly not warriors (the most prepared man wearing promotional armor and a wooden bowl as a helmet) – shouted for 'Tonbert', asking if this was hell. When they saw the tiefling standing there, Kairon prestidigitated his own form to be more menacing, with glowing eyes and the constellations on his cloak lighting up, the terrified three turned around and ran back through the portal, which closed shortly after. Cloak and Kairon were left in the sudden silence of the night. After exhausting themsleves with the days prior battles, the two adventurers left the owl to watch over the cave in case anyone came out, and spent the night at the inn, intending to explore this gate the next morning. The characters did not know this at the time, but this strange portal was a doorway to an entirely different universe – a Nexus Portal, overclocked and (possibly) miscalculating its intended trajectory onto the Mobius Strip that is Threshold. Session 2: New Folks The next morning, the two men were awoken by soft knocking on the door. A tall, thin, very nervous looking man stood there, asking for Cloak. He said someone was looking for him, and led them back to his room at the boarding house across town. Coming into his room, they were met by a woman from Cloak's past – Ielenia, a drow paladin. She was hunched under a blanket, hiding both from the sun, and from the people outside. She had heard he was in town, and asked for him. There was immediate recognition in his eyes, as the two had a past relationship together. Cloak immediately knew that something strange was going on, as he saw that Ielenia was a wreck, and was being consoled by this strange, nervous man. Ielenia burst into tears and began to tell them how many of the drow (as well as Cloak's deep gnome tribe of the Underdark) had been captured by mysterious beings. These beings used some sort of black opening to escape, which she described as being made of tons of tiny cubes that folded and unfolded into themselves until they became a solid gateway of sorts. The man consoling her then used magic to actually show Cloak and Kairon through a mirror the incident happening. They then noticed this man had 7 fingers on each hand. A fight broke out as they realized Ielenia was being charmed and kept against her will by him. When all was said and done, and the bug-like creature known as a Watcher was turned to bug-like goo on the rooftop by a well aimed acid spray by Kairon, they left to re-investigate the gate they discovered the night before. The gate was on, and so they walked quickly through. Because of the vast distance and immense power pulling on them, they were hurled through the gate, and went flying out the other side, where they found themselves in a completely alien place, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of similar-shaped gateways. Day was now night. Kairon, an astronomer, recognized none of the constellations, and was chilled to the bone. The crew wandered through the maze of gateways, looking for anything the could identify. Finding an opening into the jungle, they exited and were attacked by an ankheg that downed Kairon in one shot. They killed the second bug-like thing they met that day, and wandered out into the jungle. Over time they discovered several old, decaying buildings, overgrown by jungle. Then they found a black form, lying in the ground in what looked like it could have been a small blast crater. The ground looked blackened, and the form, deformed. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a mechanized humanoid that, when touched, rebooted itself, stood and introduced himself as Procurer Mark III. The party was now complete. Before deeper introductions could be made, two lights in the distance flickered on. The party could see what looked like two mechanized forms, standing as if to protect the area. Ielenia also noticed the same black, cube-comprised gateway she had seen in the Underdark beginning to form between what the party would soon learn were two Shield Guardians. The guardians charged, and the party took care of business. They went closer to the now fully-formed black gate and discovered they were in an old decaying laboratory. Kairon searched what little documentation there was, only to find the language completely alien. Cloak touched a perfectly circular object which began to give him memories of this laboratory from hundreds of years ago. Two elves had worked there at some point, experimenting on what looked to be the gate that stood before them. After seeing these two elves walk through this gate without fear, the party packed up and went through. On the other side, the Procurer Mk III announced that he was home – they found themselves in the Plane of Law.